Patrick Beverley’s recent barrage of appearances on ESPN has made him one of the most relevant NBA players of the last week without even touching a basketball. That is because Beverley walked onto ESPN with some scorching takes about Chris Paul, laying into the guard he was traded for from Houston in 2017.
While Beverley has raised the ire of many fans and players, Draymond Green had a mixed message to send for PatBev. While he did appreciate the portions of the shows when Beverley actually analyzed the game, Green believes the comments about Chris Paul have caused some focus to shift off his understanding of basketball.
Draymond spoke about this on his own podcast and believed PatBev could be appreciated more as a TV analyst for his understanding of the game, but the main takeaway from his appearances will be everything that he said to admonish CP3:
“I respect him standing on what he said. I just think it did him a huge disservice in showing what he’s capable of from the TV side because that immediately became what it was about. It became more about Patrick Beverley talking about Chris Paul, than about ‘Man, Patrick Beverley is actually breaking the game down and telling us things that most people can’t just see and make out.’
“I’ve seen more than just the Chris Paul stuff, and I actually think he’s said some good things,” said the Warriors vet. “There’s been times on there where he was very particular in breaking things down, he went in-depth on things. So I think people can really learn some things from listening to Patrick Beverley.” (h/t Doric Sam of Bleacher Report)
Green makes a good point. Considering the goodwill JJ Redick, Vince Carter, and Draymond himself have received from fans for not falling into basketball media’s hot-take culture, Beverley seems to be proving that he is a figure of entertainment who is also a former player, similar to what Kendrick Perkins and Jay Williams do.
It can’t be denied that Beverley pulled some sensational social media numbers for ESPN during his appearances. If Beverley was to transition into broadcasting after his playing career is done, it seems he will be an easy fit for ESPN.
